The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is the first book in a series of books about the witcher Geralt. Popular in their native Poland, these books have expanded to a worldwide appeal, inspiring, among other things, even a popular PC game with a sequel coming out next year. The Last Wish is the first book about the character, incorporating a number of short stories into a novel.
Geralt is a witcher, a man who hunts the monsters of the world. This world is a medieval world on the low fantasy end: there are magicians, but they are treated with a mixture of distrust and respect, with many powerless charlatans mixed with actual mages who are just as scheming. A witcher knows some magic, but distrusts magicians and their kind, as much as the general public mistrusts witchers. A common theme is how the occupants of towns need witchers to dispose of their monsters, but once the monsters are gone, they don’t watch the witcher hanging around.
The novel is written with one common story, and every other chapter a short story told as if it were a flashback. The main story involves Geralt recuperating from some wounds as a temple in a town as the local prince’s intolerant knights demand he leaves immediately. That story itself is more of a setup for the individual stories rather than its own tale, much like an episode of KungFu. The main story ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger, assumedly setting the stage for the next book, which I expect to be one full story rather than collected tales.
Overall, the stories are interesting and enjoyable, showing different sides of the witcher and the world. The world is based heavily on folklore, particularly the darker side of Grimm’s fairytales. Every monster is out of European folklore, and there are references here and there to stories we know such as Cinderella, Snow White, etc. These references are only slightly humorous, instead showing how those tales fit in this darker world. Intolerance runs deep in these stories, both of the witcher as well as magicians. Kings do as they will and town elders will make the deals they need to for the town to remain safe, even if those aren’t the most moral things. There are some good people, but many more people trying to get by, who are willing to trade in some ethical high ground for some success.
Geralt himself is a dour man who is generally not very talkative. He does have his rules. While he is always willing to kill monsters for money, he refuses to kill people for money, not matter his skill at it. Though he shows himself supernaturally capable of defeating monsters, he is an older protagonist, one who is seeing his skills slowly tarnish as age creeps upon him. The world is changing and less monsters to kill means less money for him, so there’s a definite feeling from him that his way of life will eventually end. His character gets more interesting later in the novel, where stories include a companion, the lecherous and boastful troubadour Dandilion, who provides not only commentary to lighten things for the reader, but is himself a source of plot developments, as he foolishly acts when the far more careful and controlled witcher would not.
The style of fantasy is interesting. The world and the characters at first glance is very similar to the sword and sorcery seen more in 1970s fiction such as Leiber and Moorcock. But the writing of the fiction is a much more comfortable fantasy style seen more in 1980s and 1990s higher fantasy fiction. This is generally more readable for most readers, but of course lacks the descriptions of scantily clad females and hordes of gold found in the earlier style.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read if you enjoy fantasy, and a nice introduction to yet another dour swordsman to follow the adventures of. While for the most part there’s nothing amazingly new, both the world and the witcher himself have qualities to distinguish themselves and make this world worth reading.
